Very little is known of Pappus' life. Moreover, very little is known
of what his actual contributions were or even exactly when he lived.
We do know that he recorded in one of his commentaries on the
Almagest2 that he observed a solar eclipse on October 18, 320. He is
regarded, though, as the last great mathematician of the Helenistic
Age. At this time higher geometry was in complete abeyance until
Pappus. From his descriptions, we may surmise that either the
classical works were lost or forgotten. His self-described task is to
`restore' geometry to a place of signi¯cance.